“No kidding,” he said as they started down the trail again, angling more eastward to follow the richer soil mix. “That Saint John clown didn’t make a lot of sense. Who’s Thanatos?”

“One of the Greek gods of death,” Nix said automatically.

Benny studied her. “How do you—?”

“We studied it in school.”

“We did?”

“Of course. It’s from Greek mythology.”

“I don’t remember anything about Thanatos or Nyx.”

“Well,” Nix said with a sniff, “while you and Morgie were trading Zombie Cards under your desks, some of us were actually paying attention.”

“Okay, then explain to me why a bunch of freaks with knives are running around the woods talking about Greek gods. Did we have a Greek apocalypse, too?”

Nix grinned. “I think your new girlfriend is on Saint John’s team.”

“What?”

“Riot. She has the same tattoos on her head. So did all the reapers on the quads.”

“First, she’s not my girlfriend,” said Benny. “My girlfriend is a crazy redhead with freckles.”

That earned him a small smile from Nix.

“And second, Riot was with Carter. Besides, the woman I saw in the field was dressed like the reapers, and she had a full head of hair. So that doesn’t prove anything.”

“Maybe she wasn’t with the reapers. I don’t know, but the ones on the quads and Saint John had the same kind of skin art as Riot, so—”

“I don’t care. Riot was with Eve’s family.”

A wide gully yawned before them, and they stopped to examine it, but there were no signs of lurking zoms or reapers with gleaming knives. Even so, they moved silently and with great caution, weapons ready, minds alert.

“Well, we have one thing going for us,” Benny said as they left the gully behind them. “We should be safe from the reapers.”

“How do you figure that?” Nix demanded.

“Aren’t you supposed to be the mother of Thanksalot, the personification of death?”

“Thanatos,” she corrected.

“Right. Praise be to the darkness.”

“Ugh. Don’t say that, it’s freaky. Besides, Thanatos’s mother was Nyx. With a y.”

“Right, I’m sure that’s going to make a world of difference,” said Benny sourly. “If we’re attacked, you can dazzle them with spelling and grammar.”

She started to say something back, but Benny caught her wrist and pulled her down behind a tree. Nix started to ask what was wrong, but then she heard it too. The sound of motors coming their way.

Benny drew his sword but kept the blade in the shadow cast by the tree. Nix had her pistol out, the barrel pointed at the lead figure in a line of three quads that bumped and rocked along the forest path. Two men and a woman drove the machines. Reapers, without a doubt.

Benny was acutely aware that Nix had only two bullets left.